Japan to US import taxes?

Can anyone please share their experience with having pins shipped from Japan to the US, especially re: import taxes/duties/hidden costs? I'm looking to buy some of the new JDS pins, and the seller I'm talking to offers free shipping, but I've never purchased anything directly from Japan before and have no idea what I should expect in terms of additional fees - I don't want to be shocked when I find out that my $30 pins are actually costing me $50, lol. Any insight or advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!

And apologies if there was a better place to post this; I wasn't sure where it should go, so it ended up here. :roll:

Other countries have much stricter rules than here in the US. I'm not sure what the limit is. I saw something that if someone sends items marked "gifts" the duty-free allowance is $100 for items received the same day (so two packages valued at $75 each, arriving at customs the same day would be over). But I saw something else that said, we can "mail order" up to receiving $800 per day. Usually, that involves companies though.

Other countries the limits they can receive are as low as $20, so that's why you see International traders having issues.

But if you are only ordering $30 worth of stuff, you should have no problems at all.

Found the actual statement

International Postal Service: Merchandise shipped through the international postal service is forwarded upon its arrival in the United States to one of U.S. Customs and Border Protection International Mail Branches for clearance. If the item is less than $2,000 in value and is not subject to a quota or is not a restricted or prohibited item, a CBP official will usually prepare the paperwork for importing it, assess the proper duty, and release it for delivery. This procedure is generally referred to as a mail entry. Packages whose declared value is under $800 ($100 if being sent as a gift to someone other than the purchaser) will generally be cleared without any additional paperwork prepared by CBP. However, CBP always reserves the right to require a formal entry for any importation and generally exercises this option if there is something unusual about the importation, or if important documents such as an invoice or bill of sale do not accompany the item.

Thank you so much! That's definitely a relief (I tend to be a worst-case-scenario type of person...) I'd seen a lot of complaints about high costs when I did some Googling earlier, but I'm guessing those people were shipping things much heavier/more expensive than pins.

I have received several packages from Japan, usually around $20-$40 and once around $400 (this included a full framed set-sized backer card). I have never been charged an extra import or customs fee, either by the seller or by the post office.

You should be absolutely fine with the small size/weight/value of the pins you're getting.

In the US you are definitely quite lucky with the $100 limit. The situation in the EU is pretty crazy with $22 being the limit for anything coming outside of the EU. I recently had to pay a hefty $35 import fee for $45 worth of pins.. It really stings! So perhaps you read some stories from EU customers who were very unpleasantly surprised?

That explains a lot; you're probably right. I'm pretty relieved that I won't be hit with surprise fees but still feel really bad for you and all the other EU traders. So unfair! Have a hug. :hug:

Out of curiosity, if you bought a pin at a mark-up price can you not declare it at its original sale price? For instance, if you bought a pin for over $22 but it was originally sold for less than $22 upon its release, could you declare that as its worth? Or would that be considered fraud...? Because the worth of any given pin varies from seller to seller.

That explains a lot; you're probably right. I'm pretty relieved that I won't be hit with surprise fees but still feel really bad for you and all the other EU traders. So unfair! Have a hug. :hug:

Out of curiosity, if you bought a pin at a mark-up price can you not declare it at its original sale price? For instance, if you bought a pin for over $22 but it was originally sold for less than $22 upon its release, could you declare that as its worth? Or would that be considered fraud...? Because the worth of any given pin varies from seller to seller.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the hug! When trading it's different than buying I guess, it always depends on the situation. Ah well, pin trading or buying can be a bit of a gamble sometimes

That explains a lot; you're probably right. I'm pretty relieved that I won't be hit with surprise fees but still feel really bad for you and all the other EU traders. So unfair! Have a hug. :hug:

Out of curiosity, if you bought a pin at a mark-up price can you not declare it at its original sale price? For instance, if you bought a pin for over $22 but it was originally sold for less than $22 upon its release, could you declare that as its worth? Or would that be considered fraud...? Because the worth of any given pin varies from seller to seller.

Click to expand...

That'll depend on the seller and whether it is sent insured. If sent insured, then the seller is going to want to claim full value so if it is lost, can get insurance $